The Sweat Of Your Brow

A young man of about twenty years had put on a lot of weight. He tried many ways to lose it but nothing seemed to work.

One day a wise man visited his house. He said, “Son I will give you a powder. Mix it in the sweat of your brow and make a paste. Apply it all over the fatty areas of your body. Your weight will melt. I guarantee it. Here, take this pouch. It should be enough for a month. After that, you can come to me; I shall give you some more. And just for this month, say ‘no’ to all fried food and sweet food.”

The young fellow ran all day and collected the sweat from his brow in a little container. With a lot of difficulty, he had enough to make a paste with the powder. He smeared it on to his tummy etc. and rubbed it well.

He did this religiously for a month. To his sheer delight, he lost a good amount of weight. Elated he went to the wise man and asked him for some more powder. The old man said simply, “Son, what did you do to collect the sweat from your brow?”

The boy said, “I ran six kilometres, and kept collecting the sweat.” The wise man said, “So continue to run six kilometres. That’s all. I only gave you some holy ash. The running has made you lose weight. When all you did earlier was laze around and eat junk food, it was natural that you would gain weight. You have to remember always that you have to burn what you eat. In your case you have to burn more than you eat, to burn up the stocks you have kept in reserve!!!”

Many people think that the human body is just for ‘eat, drink and be merry!’ Their day revolves around food, food and food. Obesity is a disease that plagues a lot of youngsters today. It all bogs down to junk food, over-eating and laziness. Sedentary life styles are unhealthy lifestyles. Don’t be a couch potato or a sofa lizard.

The general tendency of youngsters today is to prefer junk food over the healthier options. The parents need to impress upon children the importance of healthy living. Eating healthy and playing in the open is something the younger generation seems to have no preference for. Why is it that our children want to play digital games and not real games? Why is it that they want to play in air conditioned arcades and not outside in the fresh air? A sound mind can dwell only in a healthy body.

Our body is a temple if we think of it to be one. The body is not just a mass of flesh and bones. It is a sacred instrument earned after many births of Sadhna. It is equipped with reason and emotion, and is capable of being used for deliverance from grief and evil. We must honour it as such; keep it in good condition so that it might serve that high purpose. We should maintain it even more carefully than the brick and mortar houses we live in, and always preserve the conviction that it is a divine instrument. We should use it for that pure purpose for which it has been designed and gifted to us.

It is important to eat healthy food. Everything, including fried food and sweets can be eaten, but in moderation. Basically, if disease sets in after unhealthy eating, then we have to resort to medicines. Sometimes we see that people need to take lots of medicines. Why should medicine be our food, when food itself can be our medicine? We should eat to live; not just live to eat.